Getting engaged in Chicago!

Its the beginning of 2014 and I have decided to ask my girlfriend of 4 years to get engaged. Seeing as Im a man and organizing things comes naturally (sarcasm..) I knew exactly what to do...

In fact, I had no clue. My only real genius move was remembering that one of our first weekend trips was spent together at the Chicago Fairmont and it was extremely memorable. We had fell in love with the city and its many museums, restaurants, social scene and nightlife not to mention that the Fairmont experience was great. I therefore bought the plane tickets, and booked a room at the Fairmont again for the weekend of May 31st 2014.

May arrived quickly and I realized I had no idea what to do once I got there. In a moment of panic I sent an email out from the President's Club website to the Chicago Fairmont telling them I was coming, I was planning on asking my girlfriend to marry me...HELP...

We arrived on the thursday late and I was a mess..seriously...a mess. We arrived for the check in on the gold floor and thank goodness I had sent the email because they had things organized! We had a beautiful suite and the staff was extremely welcoming (...honestly a little too welcoming I ought for sure she had figured it out but that was just me being paranoid...)!

Here's where it gets interesting...The Gold floor manager (Jackie) helped organize an incredible picnic in Millennium Park for Saturday morning! Even the chef came to see me personally to plan the menu (wow!). The staff brought the entire picnic and set it up while I had to create a diversion by walking my girlfriend around and around the park and simultaneously (and secretly..) texting Jackie to know when the whole thing was set up!!
I finally got the text and when we showed up everything was ready and Jackie was there in full gear to welcome us!

During the amazing picnic I finally proposed...well in fact and this is the funny part..I was so nervous I was barely eating. I had in my mind that I would be on one knee or something but this was a picnic and we were sitting down?!?! So, while trying to figure out this problem I told my girlfriend to pull out dessert from the picnic basket...BUT THE RING WAS IN THAT POCKET...after a few moments of silence I look up and she is holding the ring box and crying...so I proposed (sitting down...) and she said Yes!!

We returned to the hotel completely ecstatic!! Thank you to all the staff at the Fairmont Chicago! Great memories and a perfect moment!

Cheers,

Ryan